


To Be or Not To Be

by theonlymaraudette



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: M/M, My First AO3 Post, My First Work in This Fandom, i'm a sucker for money tbh, rich bfs, this was written in like 2013 and just now i edited it in my insomnia so, whiny Louis
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-29
Updated: 2020-07-29
Packaged: 2021-03-06 06:27:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,558
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25589062
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theonlymaraudette/pseuds/theonlymaraudette
Summary: It’s better to be good at being bad, than to be bad at being good. Louis Tomlinson, second in line to the throne, black sheep of the royal family, has let this sentence rule his life ever since he has memory. And Harry, his billionaire socialite reformed-playboy boyfriend, seems to think so too.
Relationships: Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson
Kudos: 17





	To Be or Not To Be

**Author's Note:**

> soooo this was written in 2013 and was filled for a prompt? (idk, it was a comment on tumblr but it seemed like a prompt), and I uploaded it to livejournal back then and just found it and thought why not? so i edited it and made it a bit better. also I don’t have the slightest idea of english royalty so excuse me for that, and for any inaccuracies if there happens to be one I don’t know of. Otherwise, enjoy :)

“Mom, stop it already, would you?”

“But Lou, I’m just fixing it. We’re going over to the Palace of Buckingham; you know your father has a meeting with the Parliament.”

Louis huffed and rolled his eyes in the sassy way only a 9 year old boy can manage.

“You know those things bore me to death! Why can’t I stay with Lottie and Fizz?” He asked to his mother, Johanna Tomlinson, or as people close to her liked to call her, Jay.

“Because you are the heir, love. They’re not.” Jay reminded him again, finally fixing his sky blue bowtie, even though she knew that by the end of the meeting, Louis would have tugged at it so much that the effort would be for nothing. “Niall will be there. I’m sure you boys will manage to entertain the other.”

Louis considerably lighted up at that.

_**12 YEARS LATER** _

“Fuck off!” A very drunk Prince slurred to a paparazzi who was snapping picture after picture of him, of how he stumbled out of a club only to get into another. It did not help that Niall, who was fucking Irish, for Christ’s sake, was his company.

“C’mon, Louis! Just a few pictures!” The person called, and if he wasn’t so pissed, Louis would probably let it go with his middle finger raised and that’s it. However, he was very pissed, and Niall was laughing loudly next to him, so he did what his fogged up brain told him. He punched him. Liam stiffened but proceeded to get him out of the fight, wearing a dismay expression on his face.

*******

“WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?” His father, Mark Tomlinson, King of England, Northern Ireland, Canada, Australia, blah, blah, blah, his Gracious Majesty, bellowed as he threw the newspaper in front of Louis the next morning. The main headline, first page read ‘LOUIS “THE SPARE” TOMLINSON’.

“That the lad was annoying. I was drunk.” Louis mumbled as he hid under his arms, his head was killing him and if he didn’t get an Advil soon, he would seriously start considering disgracing his family and joining a terrorist organization. “You weren’t even supposed to be drunk! Do you, do you even-” Mark stuttered, his face flushed a nasty shade of red especially reserved to the States. That was when Louis knew he was in deep shit. “Do you even realize that you ditched the Duchess of Cambridge? Do you even care, at all?”

Louis shrugged and stood up, taking with him a French toast, an apple and a glass of water. “Not really.” He ended the conversation striding out of the room, while his sisters, who were staring down at their plates silently, looked up at him, half awed and half scandalized.

“LOUIS! LOUIS, COME BACK HERE! LOUIS WILLIAM TOMLINSON!” Mark yelled, but it came to deaf ears.

*******

“Hello there. I missed your voice.”

Louis chuckled to himself as he walked around the gardens of the Palace in his sweats, holding his diamond-encrusted phone, his improvised breakfast now replaced for a bottle of orange juice, and his head, thankfully, had taken a break in its mission of leaving him in endless shame. “I missed your voice too. Where are you now, anyway?”

“Spain. I’m planning to pay Ibiza a small visit after I’m done here. Care to join?” And there it was. The fire that meant mischief in his blue eyes, courtesy of the Tomlinson family.

“I’d love to. We can christen your new yatch.” He suggested, his voice lowering to a sultry tone that definitely left no doubt to what kind of christening he meant. Harry chuckled and bit his bottom lip, keeping on with his jogging. “I’ll make sure to remember that. We can give those paps a nice show.”

Louis laughed and took a sip of his juice, a completely, if small, enamoured smile in his face. “Did you hear, then?” He asked, but he knew the answer already. Of course, Harry would hear about it, he would find it on his email, Twitter, newspaper, etc. If one of his many, many famous friends hadn’t already told him before that (seriously, is like he kept spies on him. But he knew Harry wasn’t like that, or he would have already kicked him in the balls. Still, he definitely wondered how his boyfriend managed to have so many friends). It was probably Nick, the little shit.

Harry hummed an agreement, taking a sip of his water bottle for a moment before continuing. “Niall told me the guy was bothering you.” He simply replied, a hint of protectiveness slipping into his voice. Louis was fierce and loud, but he was fragile in a way only he could be. “I would have done the same, except that I would have added a few more punches.”

“Yeah, well, my dad doesn’t think the same.” Louis answered, lying down on a nearby bench, staring up at the grey sky. Nothing new on London. Maybe Ibiza would make him good; he had noticed his normally sun-kissed skin was getting paler. “Your dad’s the king, love. Not sure if you’ve heard, but he’s got quite a reputation.” Harry chuckled, slowing down until he came to his hotel, nodding to his bodyguards and going to the lift.

“I know, I know. But that doesn’t mean I can’t loosen up every now and then.” Louis whined, his lips unconsciously forming a pout. At least Harry listened to him, his father had yelled at him as soon as he woke up, and his mother had that disappointed look that was becoming more and more normal. Even a maid had given him a reproachful look when he was walking out! If he was an evil prince and they were in the Middle Age, he would have her beheaded. Kind of like that Joffrey kid from Game of Thrones, but way sexier.

“Well, you’ll get the chance to relax when we meet, three days from now, on the weekend. I’ll send my jet and a car for you.” Harry promised, kicking off his tennis and leaving them in the closet before starting to undress. “I’ve missed you, y’know?”

Louis smiled up at the grey clouds; he was so head over heels for this man. His man. “I’ve missed you too.” He whispered, his voice choking up a bit. The last time he had seen Harry had been around 2 weeks ago, and they spent 48 hours straight catching up and talking and partying with their closest friends and shagging in every surface available and doing cute couple-y things that Louis would have gagged at two years ago, so, yeah. Absence makes the heart grow fonder.

“I can’t wait to have you in my arms again, Lou. And fuck you senseless.” Harry mumbled as he flopped down on bed, naked as the day he was born. “Shit, I better leave the phone before I get emotional over here.”

Louis laughed, shaking his head. “Way past that point, love. I’ll call you later then.” He added, before they said their loving, kind-of-sort-of-but-not-really teary goodbyes and hung up. He sighed, Friday couldn’t come fast enough.

*******

“You are expected to go to a christening of a royal ship on Friday.”

Louis looked up from his phone, his texts with Harry were getting heated when his mum’s voice suddenly rang. “What?” He asked, trying to cover his hard on.

“You’re expected to go to a christening of a royal ship, on Friday. Tomorrow.” Jay repeated, more slowly this time, making Louis chuckle and roll her eyes at her, bumping their shoulders.

“Uhm…” Louis started awkwardly, scratching his head, looking at anywhere but her. “Harry and I actually… we have plans.”

“Plans?” Jay asked, raising a perfectly plucked eyebrow at him. “What plans?”

“He’s taking me to Ibiza on his new yatch. The Sea Moth.” Louis explained crossing his legs as his mother made another disappointed sigh. A part of Louis, the one who still needed his mum’s cuddles at nights sometimes, or for her to make him breakfast on the barely there free days, hated himself for being the cause. Jay just stood up and walked away, her heels clinking on the marble floors.

*******

‘Hope you have a good time with Harry, Boo. Love you, the twins already miss you xx -Mum’

*******

Louis read the text and bit his lip to stop his face scrunching up with tears. He threw the phone on the bed he and Harry shared and walked on deck, finding his boyfriend on a beach chair scrolling down what probably was Twitter and tweeting something about bananas. He sighed and plopped down on his lap, making him groan and put his phone on the chair besides him.

“Something’s bothering you.” He simply said, hugging Louis’ waist with his arms and kissing his neck as the yatch gently moved with the sea waves, the island still visible.

“My mum sent me a text.” Louis answered, and just with that, Harry’s strong arms tightened around him, bringing him closer. “She just seemed so… disappointed.” Harry stayed quiet, knowing that Louis would keep talking, no matter how long his pause.

“And it makes me feel so guilty, because hello, heir to the crown? And yet, I don’t give two flying shits about it, and they have expectations on me, and I just…” Louis ranted, his eyes looking suspiciously moist. “I feel so pressured to be good. But I’m not good at it, if that makes sense. So, why be bad at being good, when you can be good at being bad?”  
Harry kissed Louis’ jaw, and then his cheeks, continuing over the corner of his lips and giving the tip of his nose a soft kiss. “I know, babe.” He whispered, kissing his upper lip gently. “And I’m sorry you feel that way.” He added, joining their lips.

Louis shivered at Harry’s kisses, returning the kiss slowly, wrapping his arms around his neck and bringing him closer, not caring that there probably was a nearby boat with a paparazzi ready to catch them at it. It had been quite the scandal; when Louis came out with an Instagram picture of him and Harry in bed with their lips joined in a soft kiss, looking like they just had woken up. On one side, Louis had to have heirs eventually (that was a bridge he would burn when he came to it), and on the other, before they had gotten together Harry had a history with loads of both pretty, long-legged blonde models and older, disarmingly cool men. But when the papers really analyzed it, well, it had been obvious ever since a 10 year old Louis pretty much insulted a Lord’s wife because ma’am, those shoes do not go with that dress.

His family had been everything he could ask, accepting and loving, and Harry, wonderful Harry, had been there for him when he crumbled down. Unfortunately, Harry was the heir of a huge company of oil, so he was always traveling with his father. One day the Emirates, the other the States.

“Stop thinking.” Harry smiled in the kiss, moving them so they were laying on deck, over a towel, situated next to Louis’ legs and hiding his face in his neck, his hands toying with the waistband of his swimming suit, pulling it down inch by inch before moving up, and then down again. Louis whined and looked down at Harry with a pout. “Stop teasing.” He said in the same tone, one of his hands going to Harry’s hair and combing through it.

Harry snorted and began placing small, wet kisses in his neck. “H-Haz, maybe we should take this inside.” Louis breathed, pointing at the definitely there boat of paparazzi ready to catch them at it. Harry picked him up again, and while they walked inside, with his legs wrapped around Harry’s waist and very much focused on an incredible kiss, they flipped them off just before the door closed behind them. Louis found incredibly satisfying the click of a camera as they did it.

*******

“LOUIS WILLIAM TOMLINSON!”

Louis cringed when his father’s voice sounded through the phone. He had been immersed in a very good dream of Harry fucking the living daylights out of him right on deck, not caring if the paparazzi saw, when his phone rang, waking him up.

“Hello, dad.” Louis answered calmly while Harry groaned, hugging Louis tighter to his chest and throwing an arm over his eyes.

“HELLO, DAD?! THAT’S ALL YOU’VE GOT TO SAY?!” Mark yelled, making Louis pull his phone away from his ear. “Louis… I know, and I accept that you and Harry are young, hormonal and in love.” Now he had a tone that suggested calm before a storm. Louis just sighed and prepared himself for the rant that was to come and that after exactly 7 minutes with 45 seconds, his mother would stop. “But I will not, and I repeat, will not tolerate you putting our family to shame!” He was yelling again.

“Dad…” Louis started patiently, his eyes already closing again, lulled by the movement of the yatch. “Harry and I are supposed to be on a vacation. Alone. It’s supposed to be private. Can you really blame us for wanting to spend time together without hearing the snaps of a camera?” Lie. He was the Heir to the Crown, for God’s sake. Harry was the heir of a billionaire company, and his best friends were all a bunch of celebrities too. Of fucking course there would be paparazzi in their heels, and they knew it.

“No, Louis, but you know you have a reputation to maintain.” Mark answered, not with his usual angry voice, but with a tired one, making Louis think that maybe he had really fucked up this time. “Mark, leave him alone!” His mum’s voice sounded, a full 4 minutes earlier than normal. “Let him enjoy his vacations. Don’t worry, darling, your dad’s just frustrated”. Then the call ended. It had all been purely useless, Louis mused while rolling his eyes, but now he couldn’t go back to sleep. “Harry.” He called softly to his boyfriend, looking up at him. “Harry. Harry. Harry, Harry, Harry.” He continued, prodding his side. “Haroooold. Harry. Harreeeeeeh. Wake up, you lazy twat, I need you to feed me.” He said with a pout, prodding harder until he groaned, cracking one eye open.

“When is it going to be the day that you learn to cook?” He asked, disentangling himself from Louis and putting on his boxers. “Never, love, you know that. Besides, you know I love your food.” Louis grinned at him innocently, standing up to jump on his back, draping himself over him like a koala bear. “Yeah, yeah, you just say that so I keep doing it.” Harry rolled his eyes with a smile, setting his hands below Louis’ thighs to keep him in place. Louis laughed and kissed his neck soundly, before pointing towards the door.  
“Onwards, my faithful horse!” He cried out, making Harry snort and roll his eyes, but he started walking. Louis took it like a small victory. And as they danced and sang to Queen, using spoons as microphones, Louis thought that he really didn’t care about his father’s rants and what the papers said, as long as he had this.


End file.
